(3  fit 


LECTURE, 


The  Source  of  all  Civilization, 


AND 


lie  I/leans  of  Preserving  our  Civil  and  Religious  Liberty, 

DELIVERED   BEFORE 

THE  YOUNG  MEN'S  LITERARY  AND  SOCIAL  UNION, 
OF  THE  CITY  OF  INDIANAPOLIS, 

BY 

Rev,    ISIDOR    K  A  L  I  S  C  H  ,    D  . ,    EC. , 

Rabbi  of  the  Hebrew  Congregation,  Indianapolis. 


end  and  aim  of  the  Present  to  submit  everything  to  the 
a  supplied  us  by  reason  only." — FK 


SECOND     EDITION. 

INDIANAPOLIS: 

INDIANAPOLIS   JOURNAL   COMPANY,   PRINTERS, 

1864. 


SRLE 
URC 


• 


To  THE  YOUNG  MEN'S  LITERARY  AND  SOCIAL  UNION  OF  THE 
CITY  OF  INDIANAPOLIS,  THIS  LECTURE  is  MOST 

RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED 

BY    THE    AUTHOE. 

GENTLEMEN  : 

Accept  the  best  I  know  and  the  best  I  can  give  you.  Endeavor 
to  hasten  the  time  when  there  shall  be  a  dominion  of  reason  engender- 
ing a  just  and  powerful  new  public  life  in  the  minds  and  actions  of  our 
nation. 


CM  -fi 


LECTURE 

ON  THE    SOURCE   OP   ALL   CIVILIZATION    AND    THE   MEANS   OP 
PRESERVING   OUR   CIVIL   AND   RELIGIOUS   LIBERTY. 


A  survey  of  the  history  of  nations  shows  to  every  clear- 
sighted searcher  after  truth,  that  mankind  is  generally  pro- 
gressing to  a  better  state  as  to  physical,  moral  and  intellect- 
ual improvement. 

Although  generations  are  constantly  coming  and  disappear- 
ing, we  observe,  nevertheless,  that  all  the  seeds  of  culture 
and  enlightenment  which  have  been  cast  by  individuals  before 
hundreds  and  thousands  of  years  into  the  wide  furrows  of 
time,  have,  through  all  change,  not  been  lost,  but  ripen  to 
charming  blossoms  and  yield  finally  delicious  fruits. 

As  the  stars  rise  and  set  in  the  firmament,  and  even  the 
remotest  and  smallest  one  does  not  appear  there  in  vain, 
but  is  shedding  its  mild  and  twinkling  light,  just  so  is  the 
smallest  intellectual  power  never  lost,  but  has  been,  and  is,  ir- 
radiating the  whole  human  race  by  its  salutary  beams,  until 
the  sun  of  knowledge  will  rise  and  shine  in  full  glory  to  the 
later  generations. 

Men  make  not  only  gigantic  progress  in  arts  and  sciences, 
but  also  in  morals,  and  therefore  become  generally  better, 
more  civilized  and  judicious. 

Prejudice,  superstition,  fanaticism,  intolerance  and  mania 
of  persecution  vanish  daily  more  and  more,  and  nearly  every- 
where speak  the  laws  loudly  and  energetically  of  equality,  of  the 
civil  rights  of  all  men,  of  people's  sovereignty,  and  antiquated 
political  principles  are  changed,  altered  or  abolished  by  de- 
grees according  to  the  spirit  of  the  times. 

Slavery  and  vassalage  have  not  only  been  abolished  nearly 
everywhere  in  civilized  Europe,  but  also  in  our  beloved  Union, 
the  model  of  all  republics,  they  are  torn  up  by  the  roots  by  a 
majority  of  the  people  with  unprecedented  vigor  and  sacri- 
fices. 


We  ask  now  who  and  what  was  it  that  produced  such  a 
high  state  of  human  culture  in  the  United  States  ?  Who 
and  what  is  it,  that  is  yet  unremittingly  promoting  the  same? 
Was  and  is  it  the  Republican  Party,  by  laborious  exertions 
and  continued  efforts  of  its  great  statesmen  and  distinguished 
orators  ?  Yes.  What  then  is  the  source  of  civilization  gen- 
erally? • 

And  we  receive  upon  these  questions  a  double  answer. 
Some  maintain,  that  the  practical  philosophy,  namely:  1. 
The  common  ethics  as  the  doctrines  of  the  value,  end  and  aim 
of  human  actions  generally.  2.  As  moral  philosophy  (pre 
cepts  of  virtue  and  manners)  by  application  of  the  common 
ethics  to  the  internal  spiritual  life  of  man;  and  3.  Politics  as 
application  of  the  common  ethics  to  the  external  social  rela 
tions  as  well  as  the  theoretical  philosophy,  namely:  1.  The 
common  metaphysics  of  manners  or  the  common  doctrine  of 
the  duties  of  man;  2.  The  metaphysical  doctrine  of  virtue;  and 
3.  The  metaphysical  politics  or  jurisprudence  being  the  sinew 
of  life  of  all  improvements,  and  ennobling  of  the  nations, 
and  others  assert  that  Christianity  is  the  main-spring  of  all 
civilization  of  mankind. 

In  regard  to  the  public  and  secret  human  evils  and  crimes, 
civil  and  personal  miseries,  infirmities  and  failings,  and  es- 
pecially all  the  hinderances  of  beneficial  progress  and  im- 
provement of  culture,  there  is  a  conflicting  opinion  between 
the  panegyrists  of  Christianity  and  the  admirers  and  retainers 
of  philosophy.  One  party  is  laying  them  to  the  charge  of  the 
other,  and  treat  its  subject  disdainfully  and  contemptuously, 
nay,  very  often  also  with  violent  passion,  and  both  refer  us  to 
historical  facts.  The  Christian  theologians,  the  reverend 
preachers,  decry  philosophy,  or  human  wisdom,  as  they  please 
to  term  it,  in  their  works  as  well  as  from  their  pulpits,  and 
proclaim  to  all  the  world,  that  it  is  the  source  where  all  the 
errors  and  faults  came  from  and  are  still  coming,  by  which 
the  community  is  and  has  been  always  deluged  everywhere. 
It  can  not  be  imagined,  they  say,  any  frivolity  or  indiscre- 
tion which  has  not  been  represented  once  by  a  philosopher. 

The  philosophy  is,  as  the  French  thinker  Bayle  confessed 
in  the  17th  century,  an  escharotic  powder,  consuming  the 
putrid  flesh  as  long  as  there  is  any  of  it,  but  afterwards  it  cor- 
rodes sound  flesh,  marrow  and  bones. 

The  philosophers  maintain,  on  the  contrary,  that  as  long  as 
there  are  positive  religions,  we  hear  of  fanatics,  wonders,  wars, 
impostors  and  deceived  people. 

It  is  true,  that  there  are  also  penitents,  visionaries  and 


hypocrites  in  China  and  Turkey  as  well  as  in  Europe  and 
America ;  but  there  is  no  religion  in  existence  upon  the  whole 
face  of  the  earth,  where  such  a  spirit  of  intolerance  is  prevail- 
ing as  in  that  religion  confessed  and  taught  by  Christian 
priests. 

Early  in  the  first  centuries  when  the  Christians  had  risen  to 
dominion  and  power,  they  refused  the  Jews  and  Heathen  all 
kinds  of  human  feelings  with  an  unparalleled  hard-heartedness 
and  a  shocking  ferocity  and  did  not  grant  them  justice  or  tol- 
eration. 

The  severity  of  the  rage  of  persecution  of  the  Christian 
Emperors,  Lords  and  Bishops  grew  fiercer  from  year  to  year 
and  from  century  to  century. 

In  all  the  cities  of  the  great  Roman  Empire,  the  heathen 
temples  were  closed  by  force,  and  all  the  public  property  of 
the  heathen  was  confiscated  in  order  to  enrich  the  Christian 
churches. 

They  stoned,  murdered  and  plundered  a  great  many  non- 
christians,  and  thought  to  serve  God  by  this  crying  sin. 

They  did  not  teach,  dispute  and  fight  with  words  and  ex- 
pressions, but  with  Auto  Da  Fee,  poniards,  tortures  and  dun- 
geons. 

A  religion  that  produced  such  effects,  a  religion  which  excited 
so  much  hatred  and  intolerance,  and  stimulated  bloody  perse- 
cutions against  all  persons  entertaining  different  opinions  or 
which  authorized  to  rob  and  plunder  property  belonging  to 
others  has  surely  not  contributed  to  promote  civilization  and 
culture,  but  to  a  very  great  demoralization. 

And  indeed  since  Christianity  has  been  an  established  re- 
ligion in  the  Roman  Empire,  all  the  beautiful  and  bright 
virtues  of  antiquity,  by  which  it  has  been  victorious  in  three 
continents,  became  weaker  and  weaker  and  expired  finally  al- 
together, and  degeneracy  and  immorality  were  coming  on 
originated  by  very  obliging  priests  of  the  alone-saving  faith 
who  had  always  had  in  store  heavenly  remissions  of  Chris- 
tian sins  and  vices  and  a  purification  from  Christian  guilt. 

If  we  study  history,  says  the  philosopher,  with  an  unbi- 
assed mind,  and  lay  aside  the  Christian  spectacles  to  see 
the  ancient  facts,  we  must  confess,  that  Rome,  once  crowned 
with  glory  and  the  ruler  of  the  earth,  fell  dangerously  sick 
during  the  time  of  several  Christian  emperors  and  died  finally 
of  the  effects  of  Christianity.  They  endeavored  to  establish 
Christendom  by  force  and  by  the  edge  of  the  sword. 

Yes,  the  spirit  of  Christian  intolerance  has  been  growing 
in  such  a  degree,  that  it  engendered  even  among  the  differ- 


ent  Christian  sects  the  most  formidable  religious  wars  with  all 
heinous  crimes. 

From  772-803  the  emperor  Charles,  the  Great,  persecuted 
the  Saxons  furiously. 

He  drove  them  by  thousands  into  the  rivers  in  order  to  be 
baptized. 

4500  prisoners  refusing  to  become  Christians,  he  ordered  to 
be  slaughtered  at  once,  and  forced  their  commander,  Witte- 
kind,  to  be  baptized  and  to  embrace  Christianity. 

In  the  llth  century  all  the  Christians  who  were  considered 
as  heretics,  were  burnt  alive  as  Manichees,  and  a  great  many 
Jews  were  either  converted  by  force  or  cruelly  murdered. 

In  the  12th  century  Count  Emich,  of  Leiningen,  and  Arch- 
Bishop  Ruthard,  of  Mainz  committed  horrible  massacres 
among  the  Jews  on  the  Rhine  ;  because  some  Monks  pre- 
tended to  have  found  upon  the  grave  of  Jesus  a  letter  from 
heaven  in  which  the  conversion  of  Jews  was  demanded  in  de- 
finite terms. 

In  the  13th  century  Pope  Inocence  the  III.,  and  Gregor 
IX.  founded  the  formidable  inquisition,  the  court  of  condem- 
nation of  intellectual  freedom,  and  the  Franciscans,  Domini- 
cans, the  hounds  of  the  Lord,  or  Jacobins  and  the  Carme- 
lites became  the  terror  of  the  free  thinking  Christians  and 
of  the  Jews.  The  great  German  poet,  Haller,  remarks  with 
a  just  indignation : 

"Cruel  tyrant,  cursed  rage  of  fanatics. 

Glowing  always  wild  against  heretics, 

Thou  didst  not  rise  out  of  Cerberus  foam 

"Which  vents  in  hell's  solitary  gloom, 

No !     Thou  art  born  of  the  sainted  breast, 

And  thy  parent  is  priest's  boiling  chest. 

Speaking  but  of  love  with  pious  care, 

And  yet  showing  fury  everywhere. 

Ere  a  Pope  a  sovereign  became 

And  a  man  assumed  God's  holy  name, 

All  who  did  not  go  the  priesthood's  path, 

"Were  made  victims  of  their  fiendish  wrath. 

"Who  had  drowned  with  blood  the  ground  of  Toulouse?" 

The  poet  alludes  here  to  the  atrocious  actions  of  the  inqui- 
sition established  at  Toulouse  1229,  which  ordered  all  heretics 
to  be  buried  alive. 

1484  an  Inquisition  was  introduced  in  Spain  which,  up  to 
the  year  1808,  offered  up  to  God  343,000  innocent  human 
creatures  as  sacrifices,  by  which  this  pretended  pious  institu- 
tion tortured  and  murdered  the  bravest  men. 

And  besides   these    cruelties    generally   committed,   how 


shocking  was  the  fatal  destiny  of  millions  of  poor  Jews  in  the 
Christian  empires ! 

A  lamb  among  seventy  wolves,  as  Jewish  Bards  bitterly 
lament  in  their  elegies. 

The  Jews,  who  have  been  commanded  in  .the  Pentateuch, 
(Lev.  xix :  34,)  to  love  the  stranger  like  themselves,  without 
any  distinction  of  nation  or  creed,  and  have  never  flinched 
from  their  duty;  the  Jews  who  watched  with  scrupulous 
care  and  anxiety  over  the  most  holy  human  records,  and  their 
only  crime  was  the  belief  in  a  primitive  cause,  namely  in  one 
God,  were  hated,  despised,  plundered  and  murdered  cruelly 
everywhere. 

Instead  of  pitying  such  a  noble  people,  which  were  spread 
over  the  whole  world,  and  having  compassion  on  them,  sup- 
porting the  weak  and  protecting  them  against  violence,  rob- 
bery and  spoliation,  they  preferred  to  treat  them  with  inhu- 
man and  unjust  severity,  and  to  oppress  them  with  heavy,  ex- 
orbitant taxes. 

The  only  relief  they  offered  them  was  either  to  take  the 
cross  or  to  die  shamefully. 

And,  indeed,  there  has  been  no  public  or  natural  calamity 
which  has  not  been  attributed  to  the  unfortunate  Jews. 

Thus,  for  instance,  maintained  the  Pope  1569,  that  on  ac- 
count of  the  Jews  an  earthquake  happened  in  Ferarra  in  Ita- 
ly, although  the  Duke  well  remarked,  that  he  can  hardly  be- 
lieve it ;  because  12  Christian  Churches  fell  into  ruins  at  that 
time,  and  not  one  Jewish  Synagogue. 

I  could  speak  volumes  on  this  subject,  how  the  Jews  have 
been  wilfully  misrepresented,  nicknamed  and  disgraced  by  the 
clergy,  to  disseminate  and  to  nourish  a  hatred  against  them 
among  their  -Christian  brethren,  and  to  raise  persecution 
against  this  unhappy  but  meritorious  and  innocent  people. 
I  will,  however,  says  the  philosopher,  restrict  myself  to  the 
only  fact  how  Christians  have  treated  their  own  brethren  in 
faith. 

1572  thirty  thousand  Protestants,  or  Hugenots,  so  called  as 
a  nickname,  because  they  were  only  allowed  to  hold  Divine 
services  at  night,  like  a  certain  specter  Hugo,  were  cruelly 
massacred  in  all  the  provinces  of  France,  and  this  action  was 
considered  as  a  vprk  of  Christian  piety. 

This  terrible  slaughter  lasted  30  days. 

It  is  generally  known  u^der  the  name  Bartholomew  massa- 
cre, for  which  the  Pope,  the  Holy  Father  of  the  Catholics, 
proclaimed  a  year  of  jubilee. 

1618-48  raged,  in  the  name  of  Chrisi;>nity,  the  30  years' 


8 

war,  and  a  fiendish  carnage  was  committed  in  a  great  many 
empires.  And  if  we  look  into  the  history  of  England  we 
find,  that  even  there  have  been  offered  up  a  great  many  hu- 
man sacrifices  on  the  Christian  altar. 

There  were  either  the  Catholics  or  the  Roundheads,  or  the 
Presbyterians  or  Puritans,  etc.,  etc.,  who,  as  soon  as  they  had 
the  power,  persecuted  cruelly  all  who  differed  with  them  in 
religious  opinions,  treated  them  with  severity  and  suppressed 
them. 

Should  or  can  all  this  be  called  Christian  civilization? 

Yes,  when  the  pious  Spanish  Christians  came  as  strangers 
hither  to  America,  they  murdered  forty  millions  of  men,  wo- 
men and  children,  who  had  not  given  them  any  offence  or  harm, 
drove  away  the  others,  and  took  in  possession  their  land, 
houses,  and  all  their  property. 

Indeed !  not  humanity,  enlightenment,  culture  and  admin- 
istration of  justice,  but  blind  fanaticism  followed  everywhere 
the  footsteps  of  Christianity. 

It  is  impossible,  says  the  philosopher,  that  Christianity  can 
or  could  ever  favor  the  progress  of  mankind ;  because  it  teach- 
es explicitly,  as  the  Reverend  Theologians  maintain,  that  rea- 
son is  a  weak,  blind,  corrupted  and  seducing  leader,  and  that 
we  shall  take  our  understanding  into  custody  of  the  faith,  as 
it  reads  in  the  1st  Epistle  of  Paul  to  the  Corinthians  x :  5, 
"  Casting  down  imagination,  etc.,  and  bringing  into  captivity 
every  thought  to  the  obedience  of  Christ." 

Hence  Christianity  teaches,  that  we  shall  not  inquire  about 
the  most  important  human  affairs  reasonably,  but  shall  believe 
without  any  investigation. 

It  enjoins  a  passive  credulity  and  puts  reason  to  sleep. 

Nay !  it  banishes  the  spirit  out  of  the  province  of  reality 
and  puts  shackles  upon  good  sense,  the  only  leaders  of  men 
to  reach  a  higher  perfection. 

It  is  like  a  circle  which  can  never  progress. 

It  extinguishes  the  sun  in  the  empire  of  ideas,  and  there- 
fore it  has  been  and  is  only  the  author  of  spiritual  light. 

Now  it  is  a  decided  fact,  that  our  religious,  political  and 
literary  horizon  is  enlarging  more  and  more,  and  t^at  our 
views,  experience  and  knowledge  have  greatly  inCi-eased,  and 
grow  still  to  an  extent  which  the  illustrious  ap"^  of  the  Greeks 
and  Romans  could  not  imagine. 

The  question  is  obtruding  therefore  "upon  the  mind  of  every 
close  observer  of  humanity — Wk$  and  what  has  effected  this 
gigantic  progress  ? 

A  great  many  would  certainly  exclaim,  it  is  Christianity 


that  produced  this  progressive  state  of  human  affairs,  what- 
ever the  philosophers  may  gainsay  it ;  because  only  in  such 
empires,  where  the  majority  of  the  citizens  are  Christians,  civ- 
ilization and  culture  are  going  onward  and  upward. 

But  here  I  have  to  remark,  that  it  is  an  erroneous  .conclu- 
sion :  hoc  propter  hoc,  namely,  if  we  infer  from  the  acciden- 
tal coinciding  of  two  events,  that  one  is  the  cause  of  the  other. 

I  will  illustrate  and  prove  this  now  by  the  following  exam- 
ple :  Suppose  it  is  raining  and  my  table  is  standing  near  the 
window,  and  I  would  draw  a  conclusion  ;  as  my  table  is  stand- 
ing near  the  window,  therefore  it  is  raining  out  of  doors  to- 
day. 

Every  reasonable  man  would  admit,  that  this  is  a  false  in- 
ference, because  the  two  appearances  depend  on  different 
causes  and  are  not  connected  at  all. 

It  is  just  the  same  case  with  Christianity  and  civilization. 

Both  met  accidentally  together ;  but  the  origin,  growth  and 
blossom  of  civilization  we  do  not  owe  to  Christianity,  but  to 
other  causes. 

To  convince  ourselves  from  this  fact,  we  shall  endeavor  to 
observe  closely  the  course  which  civilization  has  taken  since 
the  remotest  time  until  now. 

If  we  gaze  upon  the  colossal  ruins  which  we  find  in  Theban 
in  Egypt,  that  has  been  destroyed  4,000  years  ago,  we  must 
make  the  conclusion,  that  civilization  was  highly  advanced  in 
Egypt  at  that  time. 

For  we  perceive,  that  the  use  of  sculpture,  of  the  art  of 
printing,  of  the  fine  enamel  works,  of  glass  and  precious  met- 
als which  have  been  made  there  by  the  Egyptians,  was  in  such 
a  degree  of  perfection,  that  it  is  proved  beyond  doubt  art  and 
science  had  then  attained  a  remarkable  development. 

And  so  it  is  reported  in  the  ancient  literature,  that  thou- 
sands of  years  ago,  before  Christianity  was  thought  of,  as- 
tronomy, physics,  hydraulics,  chemistry  and  mathematics  nour- 
ished in  Egypt,  and  the  philosophers  studied  everything  that 
was  useful,  considering  the  study  of  man  and  nature  as  the 
highest  prosperity. 

We  find,  furthermore,  in  the  records  of  the  past,  that  peo- 
ple flocked  hither  from  all  quarters  in  order  to  be  instructed 
in  Egyptian  schools. 

Thus  Herodotus,  the  father  of  history,  tells  us,  that  the 
Greeks  borrowed  a  great  portion  of  their  arts  and  sciences  from 
the  Egyptians.  Under  the  expression  Egpptians,  however* 
is  not  only  meant  the  heathen,  but  is  also  included  v;he  Egypt- 
ian Jews. 


10 

Although  a  great  many  are  inclined  to  consider  now  a  days 
the  Jewish  monuments  of  knowledge  as  obsolete,  others  as 
containing  dangerous  errors,  shaking  the  prevailing  estab- 
lishments in  the  empire  of  reason  in  their  very  foundations, 
and  finally  others  as  self-complacent  pride,  they  are  neverthe- 
less such  productions  which  the  great  philosophers,  Pytha- 
goras, Plato  and  Aristotle  considered  as  the  most  pre- 
cious treasures  of  wisdom  and  fountain-head  of  knowledge, 
and  did  not  hesitate  to  draw  much  from  their  sources. 

The  historical  report  about  the  intimate  intercourse  of  the 
Greek  sages  with  the  Jewish  philosophers  is  not  a  fiction  of 
proud  Rabbis  as  some,  perhaps,  may  suppose,  but  is  very  old 
and  is  stated  by  heathen  and  Christian  authors. 

Thus  relates  Eusebius  (praep.  Evang.  ix  :  c.  3.)  Kleanthus, 
a  disciple  of  Aristotle  informs  us,  that  Aristotle  had  an  ac- 
quaintance with  a  Jew  in  Palestine  who  was  educated  in 
the  Egyptian  school,  with  whom  he  conversed  about  philo- 
sophical subjects,  and  confessed,  that  he  learned  more  from 
the  Jew  than  the  Jew  could  have  learned  from  him. 

Even  so  remarks  the.  very  reliable  ancient  historian,  Philo, 
that  the  learned  Jews  in  Alexandria  have  shown  to  the  hea- 
then, without  restraint  and  in  a  clear  manner,  the  foolishness, 
groundlessness,  perversity  and  immorality  of  their  heathen 
rites  and  doctrines. 

All  those  heathen  who  aspired  for  truth  and  morality  paid 
homage  to  the  Jewish  religious  principles. 

Aye,  even  Princes  of  Greek  Macedonian  origin,  became 
true  adherents  of  Judaism.  Hence,  it  must  be  admitted  by 
every  lover  of  truth,  that  the  Egyptian  Jews  had  a  great 
share  in  promoting  the  civilization  of  nations. 

Thus  acknowledges  also  Numenius  of  Apamen,  that  the 
great  philosopher,  Plato  has  been  nothing  else  but  an  Athe- 
nian speaking  Moses. 

It  is  therefore  obviously  proved  by  all  this,  that  the  schools 
of  the  Alexanderian  Jews  gained  a  very  great  reputation,  and 
that  there  must  have  been  among  them  many  original  think- 
ers, so  that  Pythagoras,  Plato  and  Aristotle  were  considered  as 
their  disciples. 

Egypt  has  consequently  been  the  seat  of  learning  and  cul- 
ture, where  all  the  ancient  literati  have  learned  arts  and  sci- 
ences that  reached  us  through  the  middle  ages. 

Thales  who  was  born  at  Milet,  640  b.  c.  e.,  established 
first  in  his  fatherland  the  knowledge  which  he  acquired  in  the 
schools  of  Egyptian  priests.  Pythagoras  who  was  born  534 
b.  the  c,  e.,  initiated  himself  like  Thales  into  the  mysteries  of 


11 

Egypt  in  order  to  transplant  scientific  researches  of  this  coun- 
try to  his  native  land,  and  has  given  by  that  means  another 
direction  to  the  studies,  having  employed  their  method  of  ex- 
perience. 

He  and  his  disciples  had  already  very  correct  ideas  of  the 
parallax,  the  general  arrangements  concerning  the  different 
parts  of  our  solar  system  and  of  the  place  occupied  by  the 
earth. 

They  maintain  that  the  earth  revolves  around  the  sun,  that 
the  comets  have  their  periodical  revolutions,  and  that  the  stars 
are  even  as  many  suns  around  which  other  stars  are  moving. 

A  truism  which  has  been  attacked  until  the  time  of  Gal- 
ileis. 

A  hundred  years  later,  namely,  434  b.  the  c.  e.  appeared 
Plato. 

He  was  already  a  philosopher  when  twenty  years  of  age 
and  acknowledged  after  having  heard  Socrates,  a  primitive 
general  cause  as  a  supreme  being,  describing  it  in  Timaeus 
as  the  father  of  the  universe,  and  maintained  like  his  great 
teacher,  Socrates,  that  the  human  soul  is  immortal,  and  that 
mankind  will  merely  gain  its  destiny  upon  earth  by  a  true 
philosophy. 

These  heathen  philosophers  laid  down  fundamental  maxims, 
as  Christianity  did,  and  could  not  teach  them  better  in  later 
times. 

I  pass  now  over  in  silence  all  other  philosophical  systems 
of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  and  will  only  mention  some  facts 
that  the  heathen  made  constantly  progress  in  the  civilizing 
arts  and  sciences. 

In  a  memorable  poem  entitled,  "De  natura  rerum,"  com- 
posed by  Lucretius,  a  cotemporary  of  Cicero,  (106  b.  c.  e.) 
we  find  the  very  correct  idea  that  the  fall  of  heavy  bodies  is 
not  alike  respecting  all  bodies,  a  minute  description  of  the. 
flash  of  lightning,  etc.,  etc. 

In  Seneca  are  observations  given  about  the  magnifying 
which  glass  globes  produce  by  refraction  and  concave  mir- 
rors by  reflection  and  even  some  other  ones  about  the  colors 
of  the  rainbow,  forming  themselves  by  prisms  and  about  the 
decrease  of  heat  in  the  highest  regions  of  atmosphere. 

He  speaks  of  different  colors  of  the  stars  and  maintains, 
that  the  comets  have  a  regular  course,  and  that  the  earth- 
quakes are  engendered  through  the  fire  in  the  centre  of  the 
terrestial  globe. 

Plinius  (23  after  the  c.  e.)  gives  us  some  views  in  his  natural. 


12 

history  about  the  formation  of  electricity  by  friction  and  about 
different  electric  appearances. 

The  ancient  literati  seem,  according  to  Plinius,  to  have  oc- 
cupied themselves  with  conducting  the  lightning. 

He  says  in  reference  to  Tullus  Hostilius  :  (Plin.  lib.  ii :  c.  53.) 

"  Quod  scilicet  fulminis  evocationem  imitatum  parum  rite 
Tullum  Hostilium  ietum  fulmine." 

That  is,  in  the  same  moment,  when  he  tried  to  carry  down 
the  lightning  in  the  same  manner  as  Numa,  (716  b.  the  c.  e.) 
but  unskillfully  was  Tullus  killed  by  the  lightning. 

We  find  also  in  Lucan,  a  Roman  poet,  (38  b.  the  c.  e.)  in 
^reference  to  the  same  subject  a  very  remarkable  passage : 

«*    *     *     «     Aruns  disperses  fulminis  ignes, 
Colligit,  et  terra  moesto  cum  murmure  condit." 

(Lucan  Phars.  i,  606.) 

That  is,  "It  is  said  of  Aruns,  who  was  very  experienced  in 
the  motions  of  the  flash  of  lightning,  that  he  collected  the 
fire  scattered  in  the  air,  and  buried  it  in  the  earth." 

Probably  these  ideas  occasioned  Benjamin  Franklin  to  dis- 
cover the  conduction  of  lightning. 

Even  so  have  passed  over  to  the  Greeks  and  Romans  the 
chemical  arts  which  the  Egyptians  exercised  with  the  most 
Chappy  results. 

For  the  Egyptians  were  very  skillful  in  the  art  of  dying 
stuffs,  in  the  manipulation  of  metals,  in  the  cleaning  of  soda 
or  natron,  and  extracting  the  kali  of  the  ashes. 

Next  to  them  the  Phoenicians  have  had  a  very  extensive 
knowledge  in  the  arts  which  depend  on  chemistry. 

They  were  expert  in  the  use  of  copper,  gold,  silver,  lead, 
tin  and  iron. 

They  understoood  how  to  win  these  metals  of  their  ore,  to 
alloy  them  and  to  produce  different  metallic  mixtures,  for  in- 
stance, litharge,  vitriol,  etc.,  etc. 

Thus  was  mankind  flourishing  more  and  more,  and  became 
always  richer  in  spirit,  inventions,  discoveries  and  all  kinds 
,of  human  culture. 

But  as  soon  as  Christianity  began  spreading  over  the  Roman 
Empire,  all  knowledge,  arts  and  sciences  died  away,  and  the 
development  of  civilization  was  retarded  and  checked. 

For  all  colleges  and  acadamies,  where  the  sciences  were 
taught  by  non-christians  were  closed  by  force,  and  instead  of 
studying  the  subjects,  they  commenced  wrangling  and  quarrel- 
ing about  mere  expressions  and  words,  and  all  sunk  into  bar- 
barity and  extreme  darkness.  Such  was  the  state  of  affairs 


13 

until  the  8th  century,  when  Leo,  the  Isaurian,  this  furious 
iconoclast  threatened  with  banishment  the  last  remnants  of 
sciences  and  arts. 

His  cruelty  was  so  great  that  he  let  burn  at  night  twelve 
clergymen,  who  were  his  ecclesiastical  counsellors,  but  did  not 
participate  in  his  abhorrence  against  images. 

Everything  seemed  consequently  to  contribute  to  the  deff-- 
truction  of  sciences,  and  all  the  exertions  of  human  spirit 
from  the  whole  antiquity  in  Egypt,  Asia,  Greece  and  Italy 
would  have  been  lost  altogether  from  civilization  if  a  great 
many  books  had  not  escaped  the  banishment  on  account  of 
having  been  partly  preserved  in  monastries  and  partly  by  the 
Arabians,  who  by  their  intercourse  with  the  Jews  and  Greeks, 
became  acquainted  with  scientific  knowledge,  and  interested 
themselves  indefatigably  for  culture,  philosophy,  medicin  and 
natural  history,  and  preserved  thus  the  original  works  of  the 
Greeks  and  Romans. 

They  established  universities  in  Asia,  Africa  and  Europe, , 
especially  in  Cordova  in  Spain,  where  the  most  eminent  Greek 
works  have  been  translated  and  studied,  and  promoted  the 
sciences  generally,  so  that  their  seats  of  learning  have  also 
been  frequented  by  Christians. 

During  that  time  when  they  restricted  themselves  in  the 
Christian  states  to  the  cloisters,  where  the  most  renowned 
Bishops  condemned  the  study  of  the  ancients  and  did  no- 
thing else,  but  compose  biographies  of  saints,  collected  le- 
gends, draw  up  a  register  of  heretics,  wrote  excommuni- 
cations and  anathemas.  Yes,  during  that  time  it  was  judged 
in  Christian  courts,  not  according  to  wise  and  just  laws, 
but  by  ordeals  or  so-called  God's  judgments,  and,  for  in- 
stance, if  the  suspected  person  could  plunge  the  bare  arm 
to  the  elbow  in  boiling  water  without  being  hurt,  or  could 
walk  barefoot  and  blindfolded  over  nine  red  hot  plowshares 
laid  lengthwise  of  unequal  distances  and  escaped  unhurt,  or 
could  conquer  in  duel,  or  could  swallow  the  sanctified  morsel 
without  bursting,  or  could  stay  with  stretched  arms  in  the 
form  of  a  cross  the  longest  time,  was  argued  innocent,  be- 
cause this  was  an  evidence  that  God  let  such  persons  conquer. 
During  the  time,  I  say,  when  all  these  went  on  in  the  Chris- 
tian Empire,  the  study  of  sciences,  arts  and  literature,  and" 
the  endeavors  for  the  civilization  of  nations  were  to  be  found 
among  the  Mohammedans. 

Though  Charles,  the  Great,  from  768-814,  had  established 
schools  which  were  superintended  by  men  whom  he  called 
from  England  and  Ireland,  and  where  the  study  of  rhetoric, 


14 

dialectis  and  astronomy  were  pursuod  with  great  ardor,  all 
those  schools  were  nearly  closed  during  the  reign  of  his  suc- 
cessors immediately  after  him,  namely,  under  Ludwig,  the  pi- 
ous, and  Charles,  the  bald,  and  Europe  was  plunged  in  dark- 
ness until  the  13th  century. 

In  the  13th  century  appeared  Roger  Baco,  a  Franciscan 
Professor  at  Oxford,  with  the  surname  "  Magnus, "  and  who 
was  also  called  "  Doctor  admirabilis,  "  the  wonderful  teacher. 

It  came  into  his  mind,  probably  occasioned  by  the  study  of 
Pythagoras,  to  consult  nature  through  experiments,  and  to 
shake  off  the  yoke  of  scholastic  authority. 

This  was,  however,  an  unprecedented  innovation,  and  caused 
him  severe  persecutions. 

He  was  sentenced  by  a  Franciscan  General  to  an  imprison- 
ment for  life  and  to  live  on  bread  and  water ;  because  of  hav- 
ing tried  to  destroy  prejudices  with  which  his  age  was  filled  up. 
He  was  afterwards  released  with  a  proviso,  that  he  should  not 
meddle  any  more  with  physics. 

Hence,  it  was  Christianity  which  threw  all  sorts  of  ob- 
stacles in  the  way  of  civilization,  checked,  suppressed  and 
choked  it  altogether  in  the  14th  century.  Only  from  the 
time  in  the  15th  century  when  a  revival  of  the  original  class- 
ical works  took  place  and  the  old  system  of  the  Greek,  Ori- 
entals and  the  so-called  Philosophy  of  Moses  were  looked  for. 

Especially  as  the  example  given  by  Copernicus,  Kepler, 
Galilei  Toricelly  and  others  in  natural  philosophy  was  crown- 
ed with  the  most  happy  results,  the  minds  were  stirred  up  for 
imitating  in  philosophy  generally,  civilization  commenced  its 
course  with  renewed  vigor. 

The  positive  religion  was  then  from  day  to  day  much  less 
considered  as  a  source  or  standard  of  philosophical  knowledge, 
and  the  .exclusive  right  of  giving  the  last  decision  on  all  sub- 
jects in  question  was  generally  adjudged  to  reason. 

Although  the  inquisition  condemned,  in  the  year  1515,  the 
system  of  Copernicus,  who  revived  the  idea  of  Pythagoras, 
;that  the  earth  revolves  on  its  axis,  and  declared  such  an  idea  as 
false,  philosqphic,  absurd  .and  heretical,  Galilei  defended  nev- 
ertheless the  Capernican  system  in  the  year  1616. 

He  was  forced,  indeed,  in  his  69th  year  of  age,  to  abjure 
this  system  before  the  Court  in  Rome  in  the  following  man- 
ner :  I  abjure,  condemn  and  curse  the  error  of  the  motion 
of  the  earth,  but  in  spite  of  that,  he  taught,  that  the  earth 
moves  on  its  axis. 

He  was  afterwards  arrested,  as  it  was  expected,  and  sen- 
tenced to  an  imprisonment  for  life. 


;  15 

A  violent  struggle  of  reason  with  the  mechanism  of  usages 
took  place  everywhere,  and  the  opposition  to  the  superior 
criticism  of  the  positive  religion  which  it  arrogated  over  rea- 
son, became  stronger  more  and  more. 

The  spirit  itself  wrestled  with  old  established  customs  in 
order  to  give  continually  aew  life  and  stir  in  the  march  of  in- 
tellect, and  to  render  great  services  te  truth,  beauty  and  jus- 
tice. 

Hail  to  those  unterrified  philosophers  who  were  not  afraid 
of  suffering  persecution,  and  risked  even  their  lives  and  liberty 
in  order  to  build  the  truth  on  unshakable  pillars,  and  to  trace 
out  the  way  to  the  coming  generations  which  shall  be  taken  to 
find  out  new  truisms,  and  to  promote  civilization. 

If  now  the  Asiatics  and  a  great  many  other  nations  are 
benumbed  in  the  midst  of  their  cultivation,  it  is  not  on  ac- 
count of  not  having  embraced  Christianity,  but  of  being  un- 
der the  tyrannical  dominion  of  ancient  customs. 

Thus,  for  instance,  a  philosophy  was  and  is  prevailing 
among  the  Arabs  now  exactly  as  it  was  in  vogue  among  the 
Christian  nations  in  the  middle  ages,  when  positive  religion 
was  the  center  and  rule  of  all  reasonings,  demanding  an  un- 
conditional blind  faith,  and  checking  all  progress  and  devel- 
opment. 

Hence  it  follows,  that  only  since  the  revival  of  the  Platonic 
philosophy  in  Italy,  from  whence  it  spread  extensively  abroad, 
out  of  which  came  the  pure  systems  of  better  wisdom,  ancient 
civilization  and  culture  have  also  been  revived,  ancl  are  con- 
stantly promoted  and  developed. 

The  bold  searcher  after  truth  ventured  to  run  the  risk  of 
being  burned  alive  or  tortured  ~bj  the  so-called  holy  inquisi- 
tion, and  threw  light  with  the  torch  of  truth  upon  the  works 
of  darkness  in  all  its  relations  and  bearings. 

The  great  salutary  principle  of  religious  liberty  and  free- 
dom of  conscience  which  they  laid  down  and  pleaded  with  a 
convincing  force,  conquered  finally,  and  a  mild,  social  bond 
entwines  itself  by  degrees  around  nations,  trying  to  come 
always  nearer  together  in  order  to  unite  for  common  purposes. 
It  is  true,  that  the  maturity  of  reason  in  the  present  time, 
is  thriving  very  slowly ;  but  the  surer,  it  seems  to  me,  will 
the  high  aim  be  gained. 

For  it  is  merely  founded  on  intellectual  power,  freedom  of 
conscience,  natural  rights,  high  talents  for  the  arts,  and  a  true 
morality. 

If  now  this  high  spiritual  position  of  humanity  shall  be 
preserved  for  the  later  generations,  it  is  obviously  necessa 


10 

that  they  do  not  waste  thousands  and  millions  of  dollars  for 
Christian  Mission  and  Tract  Societies,  but  rather  to  establish 
Universities  in  this  country  also,  as  they  are  flourishing  in 
Europe,  where  they  proved  always  as  the  best  center  of  all 
scientific  knowledge  and  progressive  enlightenment. 

For  Universities,  emancipated  from  hierarchical  power  and 
from  the  influence  of  every  religious  party  or  sect,  are,  as 
they  were,  the  locomotives  of  human  spirits  leading  them  with 
the  rapidity  of  lightning  onward  and  upward. 

It  is  high  time  to  make  the  public  aware  of  the  indispensi- 
ble  necessity  of  such  institutions ;  because  every  close  obser- 
ver of  our  public  affairs  will  surely,  with  great  sorrow,  ascer- 
tain that  the  priests  of  different  denominations  endeavor,  like 
the  polypes  with  their  tenticles,  to  catch  every  opportunity  to 
meddle  with  politics,  and  nestle,  wherever  it  is  possible,  their 
illiberal,  absurd  and  antiquated  ideas. 

The  Universities  would  be  the  most  powerful  armies  to  pro- 
tect us  against  the  clerical  drawbacks  and  corruption,  and 
would  also  be  the  formidable  monitors  on  the  stormy  ocean  of 
life  to  secure  us  our  free  institutions. 

Yes,  a  free  University  in  every  State  of  the  Union,  would 
be  like  a  shining  sun  enlightening  all  the  classes  of  people, 
and  promoting  the  welfare  and  prosperity  of  all  nations  as 
Trell  as  of  every  individual  in  particular,  without  any  distinc- 
tion. 

Such  institutions  only  will  be  the  means  by  which  a  reli- 
gion, founded  on  incontestible  reasonable  arguments,  will  be 
established  for  all  mankind,  diffusing  brotherly  love  towards 
all  nations,  virtue  and  justice  more  and  more,  so  that  every 
barbarity  and  war  and  war-hoop  will  disappear  for  ever. 

They  will  bring  on  the  time  which  the  prophets  have  fore- 
seen, and  the  poets  have  dreamed,  that  nation  against  nation 
will  never  wage  war  any  more,  and  nowhere  shall  force  reign 
iupreme,  but  only  strict  justice  shall  decide  all  and  every- 
thing. 

Happy  they  who  can  promote  such  a  great  work  crowned 
With  biessiags,  But  thrice  happy  will  be  those  who  shall  live 
then  to  see,  when  the  history  of  all  nations  will  not  be  filled 
with  bloody  military  exploits,  nor  with  the  victories  of  diplo- 
matic contrivances,  but  with  the  general  happy  achievements 
of  the  gigantic  progress  of  civilization  and  culture  of  all 
mankind. 


ic  i  IDDADV 


A     001  Oil  690 


